It's fall beer season: Here are 11 magnificently flavorful brews

Now is the season for big, fun, flavorful beers. The options in metro Detroit are more glorious than ever: hundreds of brews made with fruit, spices, coffees, chocolates, fresh hops and magnificent, dark malted barley.

Many breweries across the country wait for autumn to release beverages that have been aging for months or even a year in used bourbon barrels. And if that's not your style, other special releases go hoppy, sweet, bitter, cocoa or dry.

Most come with a beer blanket of more than 10 percent alcohol, meant to be enjoyed and savored. And you don't always have to drink them right away. Big stouts can spend months in the fridge or a cool basement without negative impacts to flavor. IPAs, however, taste better fresh.

With more releases dropping every week, here are some tasty, tasty beers now available in metro Detroit that I've enjoyed and recommend:

Double Dunk by Prairie Artisan Ales

If you love chocolate, seek this one out. At 11.9 percent alcohol by volume, the imperial stout is a rich sipper that would pair nicely with vanilla ice cream. In fact, it's made with Oreo cookies. When chilled, the flavor of this hearty, made-in-Oklahoma beer starts out a deep chocolate, with an alcohol kick and those cookie notes becoming more discernible as it warms in the glass.

Yoda's Blend by Short's Brewing Co.

Bold, grapefruit hop flavors take center stage in this relatively dark liquid with a big dose of bitterness and flavors of caramel on the finish. It's sold in Short's Super Hoppy Holidays 2018 12-pack, an all-IPA variety gift box. While New England-style IPAs are all the rage, and a pretty tasty one is included in the box, Short's really shines with its double IPAs — and Super Hoppy Holidays includes some of its best. Yoda's Blend is classified as an American IPA, but its 10.2 percent ABV and powerful hop flavors put it in DIPA territory.

Expedition Stout by Bell's Brewery

This annual release is the purist's Russian imperial stout. It has none of the so-called pastry stout adjuncts — just hops, malts, yeast and water. The complexity and depth of flavor in this 10.5 percent ABV beer is magnificent. And if you're looking at something that will age well, Bell's describes the shelf life in a word: unlimited.

This year, I compared one bottled in August 2017 with this year's release. The year-old beer had strong flavors of baker's chocolate, dark fruit and earthy hops, all lingering in symphony with a fairly dry finish. The one bottled August 2018 at 10.5 percent ABV brought espresso, sweet caramel and dark chocolate flavors with bitterness and some char on the finish. Yum.

If you can find it, the Bourbon Barrel Aged Expedition Stout (13.4% ABV), aged for a full year, got a limited release this week across metro Detroit.

2018 Bourbon Barrel-Aged Expedition Stout from Bell's Brewery.

2018 Bourbon Barrel-Aged Expedition Stout from Bell's Brewery.

Bell's Brewery

Boss Tweed by Old Nation Brewing Co.

Like magic, juicy flavors of pineapple, tangerine, tart grapefruit and a little cantaloupe resonate from a hazy beer with some floral, grassy notes over a creamy, smooth mouthfeel. This one, at 9.3 percent ABV, was one of my top-5 new beers of 2017. It released in cans this week, and if you're over 21, I recommend you go buy some and drink it fresh.

The brewery, known for its M-43 (6.8 percent ABV) New England-style IPA, put Michigan on the map for the trendy style and continues to crank out a highly respectable mix of them. These are fun beers and a success story for a brewery that went from selling 1,238 barrels in 2016 to 7,350 barrels in 2017, in Michigan, according to state beer tax data.

Big Bad Baptist by Epic Brewing Co.

An imperial stout made with cocoa nibs and coffee, and aged in used whiskey barrels, this 12.1 percent ABV beer doesn't get much hype. There's a pretty decent chance your beer store will quickly sell out of the other barrel-aged stouts on this list. But probably not Big Bad Baptist.

It's been around for a few years, and the brewery based in Colorado and Utah doesn't have as much brand recognition around here as our many stellar local breweries. But this is such a reliably good beer, especially if you're fond of coffee. It's pretty thick, with flavors of bittersweet chocolate and black coffee with a warming, dry, bourbon-vanilla finish. Perfect on a chilly day.

Hazel's Nuts by Odd Side Ales

Toasted hazelnuts and coffee combine in a deep, dark imperial stout made even more delicious with aging in bourbon barrels. Its 11 percent ABV can catch you off guard, so drink this one slowly.

This has been a fantastic year for beers from Odd Side Ales, which just keeps cranking out experiments with success. Its Fruitsicle series of fruity wild ales was a highlight of the summer, and The Nightman Leaveth (11 percent ABV) imperial milk stout made with vanilla beans and aged in rye whiskey barrels, which recently released, is also worth tasting.

Malted Milk Ball Imperial Porter by Perrin Brewing Co.

This delicious imperial porter made with cocoa nibs and Polynesian vanilla beans, aged in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels for nine months, is back again this year. The smooth yet powerful 12 percent ABV beer is loaded with flavors of fudge and vanilla with hints of bourbon. After cellaring a bottle of this one for a year, I found that a lot of the best flavors had diminished, so I'd recommend drinking this one fresh.

Perrin is best known among beer lovers for its No Rules Vietnamese Porter, a 15 percent ABV beer made with coconut, cinnamon and turbinado sugar. Last spring, its bottle release was exclusive to the brewery in Comstock Park.

However, Perrin dropped a surprise during last year's holiday season gift boxes with both Malted Milk Ball and No Rules and a tasting glass. This year, it looks like we'll have to keep waiting for No Rules. But Perrin is releasing a specialty pack with Malted Milk Ball and Perrin Reserve (12.8 percent ABV), a brandy-barrel-aged Russian imperial stout made with bourbon-barrel-aged honey, caramelized lactose sugar and aged on golden raisins — which sounds pretty dang good.

Canadian Breakfast Stout by Founders Brewing Co.

The highest-rated beer made in Michigan, according to Beer Advocate users, is back. The imperial stout, 11.6 percent ABV, is made with chocolate and coffee, and aged in bourbon barrels that previously held maple syrup. It's smooth, delicious and expertly balanced in flavor.

Last year was the first time CBS was publicly available in bottles since 2011. This year's release arrived at the start of the month, and it appears to remain available in a number of stores. At a suggested retail price of $25 per 750-milliliter bottle, it's sure to be the most expensive beer on this list; most of the others range from about $3 to $15.

If you like the idea of maple in a bourbon-barrel-aged stout but don't want to pay a price comparable to an actual bottle of bourbon, here's a beer that released for the first time last month: Bourbon Barrel Aged French Toast Devil Dog by Roak Brewing Co. in Royal Oak. The 11.4 percent ABV oatmeal stout made with maple syrup brings a balanced dose of maple syrup and cinnamon with a hint of barrel. And I found it for $3.49 in a 16-ounce can.

Spirits of Detroit columnist Robert Allen covers craft alcohol for the Free Press. Contact him: rallen@freepress.com or on Untappd, raDetroit and Twitter, @rallenMI.